Tag Archives: Lee Jongseok

It’s been a hell of a while since I last posted here what with university and life managing to drag me out of blogging (but not out of drama watching!). Today seemed like a good day to get back into things with the 2016 MBC Drama Awards. Everyone usually walks away with an award here, and my ultimate favourite, Ji Sung (who’s making a drama comeback soon!) walked away with quite a few last year. Let’s see what this year had to bring!

[Note: MBC has seperate categories for mini-series and daily dramas. I will be translating the speeches and wins of the more prominent award winners. I’ll be skipping PD and writer names if I can’t catch them at times. I’ll also be skipping those in the daily drama category and focusing purely on mini-series and weekend dramas. Winners are bolded among the nominees. ]

The MCs for the night were Kim Gukjin and UEE, who looked lovely although far too skeletal. The nominees for the Daesang were:

Kim Soyeon for Happy HomeSeo Inguk for Shopping King Louis
UEE for Marriage Contract
Lee Seojin for Marriage Contract
Lee Jongseok for W: Two WorldsJin Seyeon for Flower In PrisonHan Hyojoo for W: Two Worlds

My poor blog is once again suffering from neglect. I blame the start of the second semester of my second year in university (booooo). I’ve been regularly keeping up with dramas nevertheless. Honestly, the first I do when I get home is open the torrent files on my client xD It bothers me that I can’t recap them, but I’m honestly plumb out of time, what with the evil monster that is physics and my other…commitments. Actually no,that’s just me trying to say that I’ve been stuffing every waking hour with as many books, movies and dramas as possibles, while being forced to endure hours of boring lectures, and even more dreadful homework and assignments. Oh, and I’ve that book to write as well. Ugh. It’s just as well that this is a post on procrastination since I haven’t even gotten to the main topic yet.

Pinocchio concluded it’s 10 week run two weeks ago (TWO WEEKS? Where did the time fly? And I adored the fitting ending (complete with WEDDING DRESS, Thank you for the fanservice, writer-nim). I’ll admit that this dramas had its share of downs for me. The noble idiocy, the unnecessary angst (see eps 5, 6, 7, 13 and 14) and being beaten over the head with thematic statements was a little too much, and results in this work being far less comparable to Park Hye Run’s previous wonder: I Hear Your Voice. Yet, there were those moments within the show: In Ha firing Dal Po’s agonized words to her mother, Dal Po choosing to take the higher road time after time, Cap, Yoo Rae, Bum Jo’s sacrifice, Grandpa and Dad being perfect, Mom being properly humbled. Moment like that really held this show together, and gave the viewer a sense of awe, and hope. But more than that, it gave them a world where even the most unjust of injustices could be corrected, no matter how many years later, a world where people could heal and be healed, and be loved no matter what (hyung, Bum Jo’s mother). And to do that with such earnestness and joy isn’t easy. But Pinocchio did it, and I’m grateful to have made its acquaintance. Farewell, In Ha and Dal Po, I hope to see Park Shin Hye and Lee Jong Suk together on-screen sometime again. They’ve fantastic chemistry and have clearly done wonders for each other’s career (*coughcough*, I think PSH has cleared herself of that Frozen fish label?). Hopefully they’ll pull a Ji Sung and Hwang Jung Eum and work more of that magic over another good tale? One thing’s for sure, I’ll be down for the ride.

Speaking of which, having a pair of established actors, who’ve already shown sizzling chemistry in a previous work, reunite so quickly must be a first for Kdramaland. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard of a ship reuniting so quickly, besides the PSH Yonghwa couple, and even that was two years later. This is barely over a year. But hey, I’m not complaining. Ji Sung is love, and regardless of how I feel about what Hwang Jung Eum is doing to her face, she can act, as evidenced in Secret. But that’s not the only great thing about these two. Kill Me Heal Me sounded like an absolute trainwreck until the first teaser came out with Ji Sung the Beautiful. Holy Moly Ravioli. Lee Bo Young is one lucky woman (As is Ji Sung to have such a perfect wife). Ji Sung not only pulls off ALL SEVEN personalities with aplomb and finesse, but his perfection even extends to the main persona. See, there’s always the risk with a personality as magnetic as Shin Se Gi, that the main character turns out a bit lacking. But Cha Do Hyun is…just marry me already. A chaebol who’s not a snooty brat? Sign me up. I love how he not only establishes each persona as highly individual, but extends a few of their characteristics to the main personality. Shin Se Gi’s brains (and if you ask me, a bit of that charisma as well), Perry Park’s haplessnesss, Ahn Yo Sub’s sorrow, Cha Do Hyun embodies all these things and more. And he’s so damn gentle, I can’t stop the squeals whenever he appears on screen. Scratch that, I can’t stop squealing. Period. My mom and sister now believe me to be a mental patient. They may be right. I’m loving the direction KHMH is heading and I really hope that we’ll focus more on the characters and personas, as well as how their past ties them together as opposed to chaebol inheritance thingamabobberies (because those are just dumb, and no one likes Mean Grandma anyway). And if Hwang Jung Eum tones down the screaming (please?) just a bit for the remainder of the show, we’re set in for a hell of a good ride.
Gosh I love this show!

(Marry me, Cha Do Hyun!)

And speaking of good rides. Doctor Frost evolved into the most abysmal waste of a good concept that I’ve ever seen. I stuck by this show faithfully, ignoring the wise words over at HanCinema and I get rewarded with dogshit. Literally, I don’t know whether I’m so pissed at this show because I expected so much, or because it’s just dumb. Put a pair of good actors like Song Chang Eui, Lee Yoon Ji, Jung Chae Eun and the fellow who plays Cheon Sang Won (and played that role for half a billion other shows), and you end up with this mess? The show is lackluster to say the least, even the previews for the next episode fail to inspire interest. After ep 6, I was honestly weeping tears of blood in disappointment (okay so slight exaggeration there). But gosh, what a waste of such good talent. The recaps likely won’t be continuing. Firstly because of school, and secondly because I’ve a book to write and not enough time to use on recapping (Forgive me Song Chang Eui, you did your best). To the wonderful people who’ve even googled the name of this blog in hopes of Doctor Frost recaps (I don’t who you are, random person, but you made my day with that search term) and to those who’ve been following the recaps on this blog the whole time, I sincerely apologize. Firstly, for how late the recaps were in coming, secondly for the fact that I’m not continuing them and thirdly, if you still love the show and I’m raining over your parade. I’m really sorry about this, and really grateful that this blog has gained the number of view it has over the pat three months. I’m really truly grateful for each and every person who reads/skims these pages. Thank you all so much!

I’ll continue a bit more in the next post. I think I’m going to need more space for the Healer squeefest.

Thankfully everyone’s back to normal for this episode, well except Yoo Rae who’s now head over heels for Ha Myung. Bonds reform, and others break while other fabulous (weary) four go up against their biggest enemy yet, who has a posse of her own. I like where this show is going, I really truly do, but the method it’s using to go that way leaves me a little baffled. This isn’t a show like Healer where this just move at an incredibly fast pace while remaining highly realistic and rather logical. From the hints being dropped around in the previous episode, it was pretty obvious that Bum Joo’s mother was going to be our big baddie, but I wasn’t expecting our reporters to figure out so soon, and so…coincidentally? I honestly don’t know how to put it. How on earth does finding her mother’s earring on in the Chairwoman’s office have any shady implication as to the nature of her and IH’s mother’s relationship? To be honest, I don’t really understand how that jump was made. Her mother was as reticent as always with the information, and being friends with Bum Joo’s mother surely doesn’t mean that the latter should automatically not be trusted. But let’s think this through and try to see why InHa’s spider sense started tingling. Why would someone who called Cha Ok over to her place (for some reason or the other) not call back to mention that she’d left her cellphone behind? For some reason, she didn’t want Cha Ok to return to her house, or to be seen near her. Well that’s fine, Bum Joo’s mother, Park Ro Sa, could have a lackey/manager return the phone to Cha Ok instead. So why didn’t she? Continue reading →

Thankfully Pinocchio sets a less somber tone for this episode, than the weep fest (me that is) for the past two episodes. While I simultaneously love and hate about these characters is that they’re own their own, figuring things out. Sure sometimes MSC and YGN’s Cap will step in with some choice words of advice, but most of the time, they’re stuck in their own heads trying to make choices that no one should have to.

And Dal Po certainly has quite a quite a few to make. Either he gets his revenge in painting Cha Ok as the devil and makes hyung proud while breaking In Ha’s heart (and most likely his own) or he takes the high road and releases nothing but the truth which results in his only chance to pin down Cha Ok vanishing. Truth as usual, is central to the conflict. To tell or not to tell. Honestly my heart sank when DP yelled at In Ha to keep her mouth shut. Honestly, the girl’s been through enough with their man she loves suddenly turning into the very creature he’s trying to bring down. And the fact that she just stood there and too it, not even knowing what to say, understanding what he’s going through but not knowing how to comfort him, is heartbreaking. This is Choi In Ha we’re talking about, who’s normally feisty as hell. I wanted her to go up there and kick some sense into DP, yet she chose to follow him (making me tear my hair out).
Why In Ha? Why? I suppose that sense of guilt she feels continues to overpower her common sense. Yet, for the life of me I find it so difficult to understand why she must feel guilty, her mother’s sins ARE NOT her own. I understand why DP would find it difficult to fight Cha Ok while being concerned about In Ha’s welfare, but seriously, separation’s not going to solve the problem. I mean just look at the issues it created in this episode alone. DP and IH should be showing a united front, instead they’re all over the place unsure of what to do and when to do it, and now Yoo Rae’s fallen for Dal Po, which is going to drive me even more insane, seeing that all these characters appear to have gone mad. Continue reading →

This episode was engrossing, absorbing, and characterized with Pinocchio’s usual poignancy. We focus on DP and In Ha, the latter in particular, which I’m actually rather happy about seeing how nuanced and complementary these two are. In the interest of the amount of memory WordPress says I have left, I’m going to tamp down firmly on my urge to fill this review with as many screencaps as physically possible and focus more on picking apart the episode…and fangirling because honestly? Choi In Ha is perfect.

Can we start with how perfect that apology was? I expected tears, recriminations (why did you lie to meeeee? À la Doctor Stranger), a notice of breakup, and instead I get this perfect. In Ha doesn’t need to apologize, she’s done nothing wrong and DP certainly hasn’t thought so either. But the very fact that she does, that she’s so utterly heartbroken at the realization of just how much he’s endured, just how much she’s dismissed as nothing, as him being irrational, over the 13 years of their acquaintance is just so…Choi In Ha. It’s that overwhelming empathy, understanding and love she has for him (which just gives me NDJ feels really) that bowls DP over. Gotta love how the apology went on for two hours though! Oh In Ha, you perfect creature, you don’t have to be sorry (as DP keeps saying!).
DP honestly seemed relieved at the reaction, that he’d finally be able to tell someone everything he’s been keeping hidden for the past 13 years. Well, excluding that bit about JM that is, though it’s enough that In Ha knows that something’s up, and he didn’t lie to her about it, rather he offered to tell her the complete truth (Thank you, show for not manufacturing a misunderstanding that way!).

Wowee Pinocchio! You’ve outdone yourself again. Now that the relationship drama is finally behind us, we begin to focus more and more on hyung, who is honestly the central part of this episode. There’s less action than there is interaction, and honestly I’m perfectly fine with that, seeing how awesome these characters are.

It’s an enormous relief to see DP finally confide in someone regarding his suspicions about his brother. I was honestly worried that the poor guy was going to crumble emotionally at this rate. He’s honestly been through so much, that I’m surprised he can get up every morning what with the crushing weight of all that worry and fear. And who better to confide in than someone involved in the issue, who’s both level-headed and rational, aka YGN’s Cap! Is it just me or did Cap seem ever so slightly miffed at the start of their conversation (you really wanted that hug, eh?) until DP’s words hurriedly brought him down to earth.I love that DP was absolutely direct with him.
(Talk about a sharp-shooter)
and that Cap didn’t try to pry or find out more but gave some very good advice without judging and jumping down DP’s throat. It’s an interesting dynamic in that I feel like DP seems to gain people who care about him no matter where he goes. His relationship with Cap is almost on hyung-dongsaeng level and will definitely be cemented there once we get some of those hugs. Though, those appear to be a long way coming what with KJM on the loose. Continue reading →